Your guide to...
healthy living
This issue is all about
how to give up smoking
The Smoking Issue
o late
It’s never to
to QUIT!
READ HOW MADODA
KICKED THE HABIT…
At the age of 14, Madoda and his
pals smoked their first cigarettes
‘just to see what it was like’. The
guys all coughed and felt a bit
dizzy, but they decided it was
cool. They continued to smoke,
using the money their parents
gave them for school lunches to
buy cigarettes.
By 16, Madoda was heavily
addicted to cigarettes. So addicted,
in fact, that if he did not have a
cigarette every thirty minutes, he
would feel sick. A smoke was the
last thing he had before he went
to sleep and the first thing he
reached for when he woke up in
the morning. He often even got up
during the night to have a cigarette.
Usually, he was a pack-a-day
smoker, but he could easily finish
three packets of cigarettes, if he
was drinking and partying as well.
He gave up playing soccer around
this time because he often had a
cough and felt pains in his chest. “I
didn’t see it as an addiction then”,
says the quietly spoken Madodo,
who is now 41 years old. “I didn’t
understand, even though people
would tell me this thing was not
right. They would talk about how
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smoking causes heart disease and
cancer, but I never saw anyone with
cancer and heart problems, so I
didn’t really believe them.”
But when his chest pains and
coughing fits became more severe,
he started to get worried. His
girlfriend pleaded with him to stop
smoking. Madoda then read some
articles in the newspaper about
smoking and health. What shocked
him into action were some pictures
of lungs damaged by smoking – they
were shriveled and blackened with
the tar from cigarettes. He couldn’t
give up entirely in one go, but he
began cutting down. He sucked
sweets to cope with the nicotine
cravings that he experienced as he
began smoking less.
In 2000, Madoda joined a gym
at the local community centre. It
was a decision which would change
his life. He found that he really
enjoyed pushing weights, although
he experienced pain in his lungs
when he did too much. He was still
smoking, though not like before. At
first, he ‘gymed’ once a week, twice
at the most.
“I then decided I wanted to get
really fit. I knew that in order to
PERSONAL STORIES
USEFUL TIPS
“I decided I wanted to get
really fit. I knew that in order
to do this, I had to give up
smoking completely. I wanted
to repair those lungs!”
Story continued on page 3
C
REACH YOUR GOALS
Get updated on the latest information, pick up some useful tips and read interesting personal stories
about how others have managed to achieve their health goals.
There are a lot of good reasons to stop smoking
The poisons in tobacco smoke:
• Nicotine – the addictive drug in tobacco
• Carbon monoxide – the poisonous gas found in car exhaust
fumes
• Tar – the sticky, brown substance that stains your teeth and
fingertips. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes a day inhales
about a full cup of tar every year.
• Ammonia – a chemical found in toilet cleaner
• Arsenic – a poison used to kill rats
• Acetone – a chemical found in nail polish remover
• DDT – a well-known insecticide
• Cyanide – a poison also found in car batteries
Smoking causes many different health problems
• Lung cancer
• Emphysema (breathing problems
caused by the destruction of air sacs
in the lungs)
• Chronic bronchitis (coughing caused
by damage to the lining of the lungs)
• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Acute myeloid leukemia
• Cancer of the mouth
• Cancer of the voice box
• Cancer of the throat
• Cancer of the oesophagus
• Cervical cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Stomach cancer
• Heart attacks
• Stroke
• Angina
• Abdominal aortic aneurysm
(weakening of the main artery or
blood vessel of the body where it runs
through the abdomen)
Healthy lung
Smoker’s lung
• Cataracts in the eyes
• Gum disease
• Osteoporosis (brittle bone disease)
• Impotence in men
• Infertility
• Heartburn
• Ulcers (sores in the stomach)
• Crohn’s disease (inflammation of the
intestine causing pain and diarrhea)
• Increased risks of complications if you
have diabetes or hypertension
• Increased risk of getting TB and dying
from TB
PAGE 2
Overall, about half of all smokers die from
tobacco related diseases. The good news is
that quitting works. If you manage to quit
before you develop any of these serious
diseases, you can avoid most of the risk.
If you already have an illness, quitting can
still help you avoid further damage, live
longer and enjoy a better quality of life.
B
Story continued from cover page
do this, I had to give up smoking
completely. I wanted to repair those
lungs!” Over time, he stopped going
out with his friends who drank and
smoked, and started to socialize
with the guys at the gym. This
helped him finally stop smoking.
He also decided to tell his mother
what was going on so that she could
support him.
Amongst his friends and neighbours, he is the exception: “More
and more people who previously
did not smoke – young women, for
example – are taking up the habit”,
says Madoda.
Now, like the boys, they see
smoking as a sign of sophistication
and maturity, although, unlike the
boys, girls seldom smoke in public.
They know that their elders will scold
them more than they do the boys.
Nowadays, Madoda goes to the
gym five days a week, working out
for about two hours each session.
He uses the machines and weights,
and he boxes.
“I can now hold my breath for a
long time, without feeling any pain.
When I run now, I don’t feel like I
swallowed a match!”
“I am much stronger and fitter
now and I really like the feeling. The
guys at the gym ask me: ‘Is there
something you are using to give
you this strength – like some kind of
supplement?’ I feel so proud when
I say ‘No!’”
Madoda’s determination to quit
smoking came from within. He listened to the signs that he was destroying his own body by his actions.
He only needed a couple of prods
– from his girlfriend, and from a
photo of a smoker’s lungs – to make
the decision to quit smoking and to
live a healthy, more rewarding life.
Other reasons to quit
• Smoking costs a lot of money.
Work out how much money you
would save if you quit. This might
motivate you to take the decision
to give up once and for all.
Hookah
pipes
Many people believe that
hookah pipes are less
harmful to health than
smoking cigarettes or other
pipes. This is not true.
• Because smoking reduces the
blood flow to the skin, smokers get
more wrinkles than non-smokers.
• Smoking during pregnancy can
cause miscarriage, stillbirth and
premature labour. It can also affect
the baby’s growth and damage its
lungs.
Few people say
that quitting is
easy, but everyone
who has given up,
says the effort is
worth it.
(Hubbly Bubblies)
• Smoke gets into your hair, stains
your teeth and makes your breath
smell bad.
• Addiction to nicotine is stressful.
Many people think that cigarettes
help them relax and calm down,
but smoking actually only calms
the craving for the addictive drug
in tobacco – nicotine. Soon after
smoking a cigarette, the body
and brain want more nicotine.
This makes smokers feel irritable
and tense until they get their next
cigarette. If you quit, you will be
free of this stress and feel satisfied
that you have gained more control
over your life.
As soon as you
stop smoking, your
body starts to heal
itself and your risk
of getting a serious
disease decreases.
• Your smoking can harm those
around you. Adults who live
with smokers can get allergies,
asthma and headaches from
breathing in other people’s
smoke. They are also at risk of
developing lung cancer and
heart disease in the long term.
The water does not ‘clean’ the
smoke. Hookah smoke has the
same poisons as the ordinary
smoke you get directly from
a cigarette. It is therefore just
as dangerous to your health.
In addition, sharing a hookah
pipe with other people puts
you at risk of getting TB and
other germs.
• Babies and children who
breathe in cigarette smoke at
home are more likely to get
asthma, pneumonia, coughs
and colds, ear infections and
meningitis. If you quit, you
will be protecting your family
from the harm of passive
smoking.
PAGE 3
Read all about what happened to Loren’s
mom and the wake-up call she got which
shocked her into giving up smoking…
In 2008, Loren was 28 years old
and sharing a home in Athlone
with her mom. Gwendeline, Loren’s
mom, worked in the creditors
department at Clicks in town.
Loren also had a good job – as
an aftercare worker at a nearby
school. Things were going well.
But all that changed one day in
April of that year. Her mother, who
was 56 years old at the time, had
a major stroke. When the doctors
told her she would never be able to
work again, Loren had to quit her
job too so that she could take care
of her mother. It was the beginning
of a new life for both of them.
Both mother and daughter
were smokers. Loren remembers
the doctor who was caring for her
mother while she was in hospital,
asking her if she smoked;
“Yes, I smoke” said her mother.
How much, asked the doctor.
“Sometimes 15 a day” replied her
mother.
The doctor then said the words
PAGE 4
which Loren’s mother has never
forgotten: “Keep doing that, and
you are going to die sooner than
you’d like”.
Like her husband, who had died
of heart failure at 66, Gwendeline
suffers from high blood pressure.
Her husband had smoked right up
until the day he died, and Gwendeline
smoked a pack a day until the day
she had her stroke in 2008. She had
developed high blood pressure at
the early age of 26. She says that she
does not recall the doctors warning
her about the dangers of smoking
at the time. She did not know that
smoking was dangerous for people
with high blood pressure because
it raised their blood pressure. And
although she had been prescribed
medication for her condition, she
admits that she often neglected to
take her pills. She often struggled
to walk more than a few metres
at a time. Getting herself from the
bus stop to the office was, “like a
nightmare”, she says.
“How much do you smoke?”
asked the doctor. “Sometimes
15 a day,” she replied.
The doctor then said the
words which she has never
forgotten:
“Keep doing that, and you are
going to die young.”
Despite seeing her mother’s
battle with hypertension and illhealth, Loren started smoking at
age 11. When Gwendeline found out
Loren was smoking, there was little
she could say to her daughter.
Thinking back to what the doctor
had said to her mother about smoking, Loren recalls that the doctor
had also wanted to know if anyone
else in the house smoked. When
Gwendeline had replied that Loren
did, the doctor went on to explain
the dangers of passive smoking.
“I realised then, that I would also
have to give it up,” recollects Loren.
Gwendeline succeeded in giving
up smoking immediately and says
she has never looked back. But, it
took Loren a little longer to kick the
habit. Although she had smoked less
that her mom – 6 or 7 cigarettes a
day – she was still addicted. Months
went by, until one day Loren found
herself without cigarettes:
“It was a Sunday and all the
shops were closed. I thought to
myself, ‘How am I going to get through this?’
Then, I thought, ‘This is my opportunity!’” She
knew that if she picked up a cigarette after a
whole night of not smoking, it would make her
feel sick. So, she decided to go cold turkey.
No preparation. Loren believes that this is the
only way she could have done it.
She remembers that she experienced withdrawal symptoms, like sweating a lot and having a dry mouth. Her cravings started almost
immediately. At first, she replaced nicotine with
caffeine from coffee. However, as she also had
high blood pressure like her mother, she knew
that coffee was not a good substitute in the
long term. Eventually, she settled on drinking
rooibos tea.
When asked what the benefits of quitting
have been for her, Loren is quick to agree with
her mother that it has been worth it to stop.
We save a lot of money by not smoking any
more… which is important, because we now
rely on my mom’s disability pension, which as
you can imagine is not a lot. I also earn a bit
selling perfumes from home.”
Loren says that the most important effect
on her health, apart from generally feeling
more energetic, is that she no longer gets
colds.
“When I smoked, I would get a cold every
other month. My sinuses were messed up and I
always felt groggy. It took about four months,
but then I realised one day that this was not a
problem anymore,” she says.
The other thing that has changed in their
lives is their diet. They explained that they no
longer have salt in food, and that they have cut
down on red meat. They eat more vegetables
and fish and feel much better for it. For Loren,
the big problem with quitting was that she put
on weight. She found that she ate more to deal
with her cravings. She does not eat as much
these days– and eats more healthily – but she
has not gone back to her previous weight. She
says she doesn’t mind too much. She was thin,
she says because smoking took away her appetite – and that isn’t healthy.
Both Loren and her mom admit that
without the stroke, followed by the doctor’s
plain speaking about smoking, neither of
them would have given up. Loren’s love and
concern for her mother forced her to stop her
habit. Now their home is smoke-free. Visitors
know that, if they want to smoke, they must
go outside. It has now been several years since
the stroke and Gwendeline can easily do the
20 minute walk to her church and back home
without feeling breathless.
Loren concludes by saying:
“Imagine walking up a steep mountain… if
you’re a smoker, you are going to be gasping
for air. Whereas, if you are a non-smoker, you
can climb to the top with ease. Not only are
you going to make it, but when you get there,
you can jump for joy too!”
If you quit smoking,
you will also be a
good role model
for your children.
Research shows that
if a child’s parents
smoke, they are
more likely to start
smoking when they
are teenagers.
PAGE 5
“Since I quit, when I wake up, I feel fresh, and my wife
says that it’s so much better kissing me now!”
Remember it is
never too late
to quit smoking.
Stopping smoking
at any age, adds
years to your life.
Read about how Rishaad eventually quit at the age
of 53 after
9 HEART ATTACKS!
For a long time, Rishaad worked in
the lab in the Cardiac Department
at the University of Cape Town. So,
he knew very well that smoking
caused heart disease. But, he had
smoked since he was 14 and did
not seriously think about quitting.
But, smoking soon took its toll on
his health.
By the time he was 53 years old,
Rishaad, had suffered nine, light
heart attacks. Every time he was in
hospital, he would try to act on his
doctor’s advice and stop smoking.
But he would always end up starting
again.
In October 2010, he suffered his
worst heart attack. His heart went
into full on failure. Having had so
PAGE 6
many heart attacks before, he knew
the symptoms – pain in the chest or
arm, shortness of breath. He knew
he had to get himself to hospital
very urgently. Luckily, he got there
in time for the doctors to save his
life.
But since the heart attack in
2010, his heart’s functioning has
been reduced by half, making it
impossible to have a bypass. He
lives with the knowledge that he
could have another heart attack at
any time.
So, why did he not quit smoking?
Why did he ever start? “I started
smoking to fit in when I was young,”
Rishaad replies. “I wanted to belong
to a particular group of friends and
that is what they were all doing at
the time”.
When, as an adult, he worked at
the medical school, he remembers
the professor at the Cardiac
Department
advising
him
to
stop smoking. “But I ignored the
Professor’s advice. I told myself
that because I played soccer and
jogged, I would stay fit. I kind of
thought, it would never happen to
me. As a smoker, you avoid thinking
through the possible consequences.
The truth was, I was so addicted to
cigarettes that I just could not face
giving up.”
After 10 long years, Rishaad
did eventually manage to give up
smoking. He has been completely
free of cigarettes for several years
now. “It’s a very addictive drug,”
Rishaad says. “I honestly believe
it is as bad as tik. The government
should ban it.
Rishaad can no longer work. He
lives off his pension. His wife stays
at home to take care of him, since
he cannot be left alone for too long.
Things are tough financially, but
Rishaad counts his blessings.
Since quitting, he feels healthier.
He can now walk about 150 metres,
and every day, he exercises his arms
and legs while sitting down. He
believes his body is slowly starting
to repair some of the damage done
by smoking. The family also eats
much more healthily now. They have
cut down on fat, salt and sugar.
He says he feels proud of himself.
“And,” he adds, “there are other
benefits to being a non-smoker:
when I wake up, I feel fresh, and my
wife says that it’s so much better
kissing me now!”
The
benefits
of quitting
No matter how long you have been
smoking, you will feel the benefits of
quitting immediately, as your body
begins to clean itself.
Within 12 hours:
Blood pressure drops, the amount of oxygen in your
blood increases and circulation improves to your
hands and feet. Your chances of getting a heart
attack begin to go down.
“I do feel
proud that
I eventually
quit.
I was lucky
to be given
another
chance”
Within one day:
The poisonous gas, carbon monoxide, leaves your
body. Your lungs begin to work better.
Within two days:
Nicotine is no longer in your body. Your sense of
taste and smell improves and your breath, hair and
teeth are cleaner.
Within three days:
You can do more before running out of breath and
you have more energy.
After 2-12 weeks:
Blood circulation improves throughout your body.
It will be easier to walk up stairs and do exercise.
After 3 months:
The tiny hairs, called cilia, which clean your lungs
begin to grow back and remove the phlegm or
mucus and tar that have collected there.
After one year:
You have less risk of developing lung cancer and
heart disease.
PAGE 7
If you decide
to quit...
Do you want to
quit, but worry
that you can’t?
You might really want to quit, but worry that
you lack the willpower. Think about what
could give you more confidence. Here are
some suggestions which may help:
•
Think of past diffi
culties or challenges in
your life and how you have managed to
overcome or cope with them. Think about
what you learnt from these experiences
and the personal qualities you have, that
helped you get through them.
•
Talk to someone you know who has
succeeded in quitting and ask them for
their support and advice.
•
Speak to a doctor or nurse at your local
clinic and ask for their help.
•
Speak to a pharmacist about nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). NRT makes
quitting easier because it helps reduce the
cravings people usually experience when
they stop smoking.
•
Set a Quit Date. Once you have made a firm
decision to quit, commit yourself to stop
smoking completely by a specific date. Mark
this date in your diary or on a calendar.
•
Think ahead about what kinds of problems
you may experience in trying to quit and
how you can solve them.
•
Get support from family and friends.
•
Whileyouaretryingtoquit,avoid socialising
with smokers and stay away from situations
which will make you want to smoke.
•
When you feel the craving for a cigarette,
distract yourself by: taking up a new hobby;
doing housework or cooking; doing a
crossword; knitting; going for a walk around
the neighbourhood; visiting a friend; praying;
cleaning your teeth or drinking ice-cold
water.
•
Stock up on nice things
to munch on, for example,
cut up fruit and veggies,
sugarfree chewing gum,
dried fruits and nuts.
•
Consider using nicotine
replacement therapy
(NRT). Various options
(sprays, gum and patches)
are available at any
pharmacy without a
prescription.
Join the free “Kick Butt with
CANSA” online quitting
smoking support programme:
Website:
http//www.ekickbutt.org.za
Quitting Smoking
NEED SUPPORT
TO QUIT?
THE COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE
If you are serious about quitting,
ask your healthcare provider for the
comprehensive guide on Quitting
Smoking, which goes with this leaflet. This guide will give you more
useful information and take you
through a step-by-step programme
to stop smoking. Many people have
successfully quit using this guide.
It could also help you!
!!
k
c
u
L
d
Goo
Remember there is professional
help on the other end of the
phone, if you phone the
Cancer Association Quitline on
0800 22 66 22
SPONSORED BY
(free call)
9am-4pm
Effective Affordable Healthcare
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT PHARMA DYNAMICS AT P O BOX 30958, TOKAI, 7966 • TEL: (021) 707 7000 • FAX: (021) 701 5898 • CUSTOMER CARE LINE: 0860-PHARMA (742 762) • www.pharmadynamics.co.za
Research and
development
funded by Cancer
Association of
South Africa
Produced by the
Chronic Disease
Initiative for Africa
PAGE 8
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